Two start-up companies in the area of three-dimensional digital products, Israeli company Gizmoz and DAZ 3D of the US, are to merge.
The move, announced by the companies today, will be carried out as a merger of equals. The shareholders in the companies, chiefly VC funds and the founders, will hold shares in the merged company.
Gizmoz CEO Eyal Gever founded the company in 2003. The company offers an online service, which can create 3D talking animated characters for internet and cellular use. Each character comprises a head and body, and sends verbal messages to the user, with the words and lip movement fully synchronized. The characters can be used to create clips, animated stickers, virtual secretaries, and related products. They can be inserted into blogs and social networks, and transmitted via e-mail.
"The merger is my initiative, following collaboration with DAZ, because I saw that together we could complement each other," Gever said today.
“The combination of DAZ 3D and Gizmoz fills a true void within the industry. Now users can experience expansion into virtual worlds, cross-platform gaming, mobile applications and more, while maintaining high-quality results and endless creativity,” said Dan Farr, CEO of the merged company and previous DAZ 3D president and co-founder. “DAZ 3D customers have been demanding more personalized content and neighboring markets have requested we expand to meet their needs as well. With this merger our company is uniquely poised to provide extended portability, support and creativity to our ever-growing user base.”
DAZ 3D and Gizmoz also announced that existing investors participated in a new round of funding to focus on the significant market opportunity for character-centric virtual goods. Benchmark Capital, Highway 12 Ventures and Columbia Capital led the round, with participation from DoCoMo Capital and Village Ventures.
Up to now, Gizmo had raised $16.5 million from Benchmark Capital, Columbia Capital, DoCoMo Capital Inc., and NGI Capital.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 16, 2009
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2009